#207
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From RockRat2008: Good advice offered so far and I agree. My wife has claustrophobia and knew she wanted to get certified after a Discover SCUBA class as well. We found a dive shop with a pool onsite that would let me work with my wife 1 on 1 so she didn’t have the pressure of other students around as she learned. She spent close to 2 months in the pool 2 nights a week until she was totally comfortable and had her skills down solid. As we transitioned her to open water we made her first dives sh...
Very well stated ... for me, it ended by taking very small baby steps. I was determined to discover what the root cause of my panicky feeling was, eventually realizing that it was water by my nose. I posted a request for help on this forum to ask more experienced divers how to overcome this fear of mask removal. I received so many good ideas, that I compiled all the ideas into a step-by-step document and started in. From sitting in my tub and just putting nose in the water for 5 sec to being able to pass my OW certification by removing/replacing my mask, took me daily ‘training’ for three weeks. The first breath after going under the water line and the feeling of descending into ‘nothingness’ in open-water, may always cause my heart to initially jump – but once I’m at depth (current record is 23ft) I feel free.
Please tell your wife she’s not alone – there are others like us who are willing to share their experiences too. One step at a time … in the end, it’s so very, very worth it! If I can oversome this... what else can I overcome!
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